"K" marks the spot: California Retail Management owes much of its industry success to Circle K and CSD's Chain of the Year Alimentation Couche-Tard.(Convenience Retail Management)

THE CONVENIENCE STORE INDUSTRY makes for a very competitive climate. With the vast number of convenience chains in business--not to mention the impinging presence of hypermarts--making a store's presence known in a busy market can be very difficult. Ed Marszal and Liz Pritchard, co-owners of California Retail Management (CRM), discovered this when they started developing their business of automotive service centers into something more by branching out into the c-store industry. While their initial stores were successes, Marszal and Pritchard realized they needed an edge to turn customers in their direction and they found it when they decided to brand their stores under the Circle K banner.

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CRM went with the brand, owned by Convenience Store Decisions' Chain of the Year Alimentation Couche-Tard, back in late 2000. Since then, the company has expanded its Circle K offering, currently operating nine stores in the Sacramento market.

Marszal and Pritchard broke into the c-store business with a small 200-sq.ft. kiosk back in 1988. As the c-store industry began to boom, the pair realized it was going to have to offer more services and products to keep up in what was fast becoming a cutthroat market.

"The customer demand influenced us to move into larger stores," said Pritchard. "Both the customers and the stores were evolving and to keep up with our long-term goals; we had to evolve with them."

GrowinG Business

As CRM and its customer count grew, so did the size of its stores. The company spent several years operating unbranded c-stores that were built on site with the Chevron and 76 brand gas stations it owned. This approach was successful for Marszal and Pritchard, however, to keep up with the growing market, the pair needed to bring the power of name brand recognition.